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| Just arrived at Tarapoto |
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| The mode of transportation! |
We stopped to allow the driver to buy some energy drink and coca-leafs to chew on. Now, as we made it up into the mountains, with killer precipices on one side, and a curvy road ahead holding but one regular vehicle, I did not sleep much for the remaining 4-5 hours drive! Not only did my heroic escape plans of how to throw myself out of the car in the case that the car would drive off the road keep me occupied, but the stunning view of the jungle covered mountains in the white fog deserved its audience.
We decided to stick with the driver, even though we were seriously considering to swap him out, and we arrived safely to Chachabomba in the evening. I noticed I had regained my appetite after my swing with salmonella in Bolivia, and ate two entire pizzas that night! Stig became my personal food advisor, so whenever the plates arrived on the table, I looked at Stig, (with almost a puppy face) for approval before devouring the plate of food I front of me. - what got left behind was almost always lettuce and home-made sauces, which made the food we ate veery dry. Ketchup help with the fries!
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| Our delicious breakfast we enjoyed every morning |
We woke up at 7, ate some breakfast before Saul, without our touristic presence organized a cab for the day, as we wanted to make stops along the way to Mendoza, which were to become our HQ for the week. I was excited to get started! - In Lima they have even put up street signs to advocate a quieter traffic, but our new (very alert driver) busted the horn in each curve as we had just left the city behind us and found ourselves with steep precipices and a narrow road ahead as we continued deeper into the mountains.
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| Getting ready |
After awhile, we arrived a little creek between two mountain sides. This were to become our first search. We put our gear on, and I was pumped to find some gorgeous orchids! I threw myself into the vegetation, fought myself up the steep slope, constantly keeping my eyes open for flowers!
At times I stopped amazed at the thriving world of plants and vines in all shapes and forms, about everywhere you looked. When you took a moment, it really started to sink in what a rich diversity and prosperity of life that existed, and how little of it you actually saw and understood.
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...but no orchids, none that my eyes could find. "No big deal, let's move on, gotta be around here somewhere!" So I continued to climb over tree trunks, through webs of slings, and under seas of fern! I sat again, marvelled at the rich diversity of plants, eye- hawking for orchids. At a point, I heard the small stream again and decided it was time to head back. So I grabbed a couple reliable fern and started my decent down to the stream. At times I slipped and got entirely submerged in them, and had to find a reliable foot to get my head above the surface again.
Tired, but frilled at my first encounter with he jungle, I regrouped wih Stig and Saul. Now, this is the time when you show the rest of the group your amazing findings, and brag about your success. "But man, all I ever saw was just a bunch of leafs! I thought we were looking for flowers, orchids!!!"
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| The leaf bragging community! :) |
I told them, "I saw a bunch of those in there, and those too!! There were so many I could take them with me!" And the truth is, there were leafs everywhere! At the next stop, Stig patiently showed me the difference between plants with leafs, and orchids with leafs. "Ahhhh, now I see! ...them everywhere." And there were orchids about everywhere I looked, but now I actually knew they were orchids! .... Now I just had to find the rare orchids! ...Great!
"Aw what a beautiful flower! Stig! Stig! Look here! ... ah, just a regular flower eh, not a orchid. Sure, not that interesting then". As my two, professional companions ran around the woods, I decided to take some time to look around, enjoy the time, and focus on something I knew a little about, photography.
But as the days went on, I must say that I actually started to see the difference between the certain species, even though most of what I collected was immediately dismissed. "Por que sólo traés basura bo!?" - did my humorous friend Saul ask me when I joined the group again "Why did you only bring garbage!?" "...thanks Einstein!" :P
We visited new areas each day, and were specifically looking for a small number of orchids. We found 3 / 4 of the really important species during our expedition. When we got back to town and had dinner, not even what was still in me of my military discipline kept me up, even after one or two cups of coffee. The amount of orchid terms I tried to process, along with the sheer exercise made it hard to stay up till a decent hour. In the morning we all reunited for the epic breakfast before the next days adventure!
Saul explained to me how, you can go with out food, climb a mountain, endure heavy rainfalls in search of orchids. Because, when you find them, it's all worth it! - And sure enough, although we were well fed, we fought through most obstacles and weather conditions to find the orchids. And how their faces lit up the when they found their precious species. - I could only smile and be reminded of Christmas when I was younger!
...to be continued
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